Programmable logic array integrated circuit architectures

ABSTRACT

A programmable logic array integrated circuit device has a plurality of regions of programmable logic disposed on the device in a two-dimensional array of intersecting rows and columns of regions. The output signals of several regions share a group of drivers for applying region output signals to interconnection conductors that convey signals between regions. This conserves driver resources and increases signal routing flexibility. Various approaches can be used for configuring the interconnection conductors to also conserve interconnection conductor resources. Logic regions may be used to directly drive specific input/output cells, thereby simplifying signal routing to the I/O cells and also possibly simplifying the structure of the I/O cells (e.g., by allowing certain I/O cell functions to be performed in the associated logic region). Region output signal routing flexibility may also be enhanced to facilitate simultaneous performance of combinatorial logic and a separate “lonely register” function in modules of the regions.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/328,704,filed Jun. 9, 1999, which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 08/807,561, filed Feb. 28, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,049), whichis a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/442,795, filed May 17, 1995 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,195) and whichclaims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No.60/021,449, filed Jul. 10, 1996. All of these prior applications arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to programmable logic array integrated circuitdevices, and more particularly to the manner in which such devices areorganized.

Programmable logic array integrated circuit devices are well known, asis shown, for example, by Cliff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,611 and Cliffet al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,195, both of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein. Typical devices of these general kinds include aplurality of regions of programmable logic, each region beingprogrammable to perform any of a plurality of relatively elementarylogic functions on input signals applied to the region. A network ofinterconnection conductors is also provided on the device forprogrammably conveying signals to, from, and between the logic regions.By interconnecting the logic regions in various ways, the elementarylogic functions performed by the individual regions can be concatenatedto perform very complex logic.

The basic logic of the logic regions may be look-up table logic (as isdiscussed for the most part in the two references mentioned above),product term type logic (as is discussed for the most part in Wong etal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,930 (which is also hereby incorporated byreference herein)), or any other suitable type of logic. Any of thesetechnologies may be used in the devices of this invention.

Programmable logic devices are usually intended as general-purposedevices. The designer of the device therefore does not know how muchcircuitry to provide for interconnecting the logic regions of thedevice. Some users may require large amounts of interconnectionresources, while other users may require smaller amounts of suchresources. Although it is theoretically possible to provide completelyuniversal interconnection resources (which would allow any connection tobe made no matter what other connections were also required), that isgenerally regarded as wasteful because only a small fraction of suchcompletely universal interconnection resources are ever likely to beused. Thus one of the problems that the designer of programmable logicdevices must deal with is to devise interconnection resources that aresufficient to meet the needs of most probable applications of the devicewithout being wastefully more than will generally be needed. It is alsoimportant to avoid requirements for passing signals through largenumbers of interconnection elements because such elements tend to slowdown signal transmission and therefore reduce the operating speed of thedevice.

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provideimproved interconnection resources for programmable logic arrayintegrated circuit devices.

It is a more particular object of the invention to provideinterconnection resources for programmable logic array integratedcircuit devices that provide a high degree of interconnectionflexibility at relatively low cost in terms of “overhead” such as spaceoccupied by interconnection conductors, programmable interconnectionsand the programmable elements required to control them, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordancewith the principles of the invention by grouping region output signalsin groups of such signals, each of which groups has associated driversfor selectively applying signals to interconnection conductors of thedevice. Each driver can output any of the associated region outputsignals. This sharing of several drivers by several region outputsignals conserves driver resources and increases output signal routingflexibility.

The regions are disposed on the device in a two-dimensional array ofintersecting rows and columns of regions. Horizontal interconnectionconductors are associated with and extend along each row of regions.Vertical interconnection conductors are associated with and extend alongeach column of regions. Region-feeding conductors are provided forbringing signals into each region. Direct programmable connections areprovided from both the horizontal and vertical conductors adjacent to aregion to the region-feeding conductors associated with that region toavoid the need to route signals from a vertical conductor, for example,to a horizontal conductor and then to a region-feeding conductor.

Vertical conductors may be segmented and provided with programmableinterconnections between the segments so that each segment can be usedseparately to provide a relatively short interconnection, or so that two(or more) segments can be interconnected to provide one relatively longinterconnection.

If the device has only a relatively small number of rows, each regionoutput in each column may have its own dedicated vertical conductor,thereby eliminating the need for tri-state driving of the verticalconductors.

In a device with a column of random access memory (“RAM”) usable by theuser of the device (in addition to the previously described columns ofprogrammable logic regions), greater use may be made of the verticalconductors associated with the RAM column by connecting those verticalconductors to the horizontal conductors of the device in such a way asto render the RAM column vertical conductors usable as alternate pathsfor transmitting signals between the rows of the device.

To simplify the structure for routing signals to input/output (“I/O”)cells of the device, each I/O cell may always be driven directly by aparticular subregion of a particular region. This may also allow thestructure of the I/O cells to be simplified by performing some I/O cellfunctions in the associated subregions.

An additional function for the region-feeding conductors may be to makeprogrammable connections between various segments of segmentedhorizontal conductors.

To facilitate use of subregions for both combinatorial logic and toperform a separate “lonely-register” function, both a combinatorialoutput and a registered output of each subregion may be connectable toconductors which can provide local or global interconnections.

Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantageswill be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a representativeportion of an illustrative embodiment of a programmable logic arrayintegrated circuit device constructed in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified schematic block diagram showing a representativeportion of the device of FIG. 1 in more detail.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2, but shows an alternative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 1, but shows another alternative embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 5 is similar to a portion of FIG. 2, but shows yet anotheralternative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a more simplified depiction of a structure which can begenerally like that shown in FIG. 1, with another possible feature ofthe invention added.

FIG. 7a is a simplified schematic block diagram showing an illustrativeway in which the feature of FIG. 6 can be provided.

FIG. 7b is similar to FIG. 7a, but shows another illustrative way ofproviding the feature of FIG. 6.

FIG. 7c is also similar to FIG. 7a, but shows still another illustrativeway of providing the feature of FIG. 6.

FIG. 7d is again similar to FIG. 7a, but shows yet another illustrativeway in which the feature of FIG. 6 can be provided.

FIG. 8 is another more simplified depiction of a structure which can begenerally like that shown in FIG. 1, with still another possible featureof the invention added.

FIG. 9 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a representativeportion of another illustrative embodiment of a device constructed inaccordance with the invention.

FIG. 10 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a representativeportion of yet another illustrative embodiment of a device constructedin accordance with the invention.

FIG. 11 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a representativeportion of still another illustrative embodiment of a device constructedin accordance with the invention.

FIG. 12 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a representativeportion of yet another illustrative embodiment of a device constructedin accordance with the invention.

FIG. 13 is a simplified schematic block diagram of a representativeportion of still another illustrative embodiment of a device constructedin accordance with the invention.

FIG. 14 is more detailed, but still simplified, schematic block diagramof a representative portion of FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 is a simplified schematic block diagram of another illustrativeimplementation of the feature shown in FIGS. 13 and 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A representative portion of an illustrative embodiment of a programmablelogic array integrated circuit device 10 constructed in accordance withthis invention is shown in FIG. 1. Device 10 includes a plurality ofregions 20 of programmable logic disposed on the device in a pluralityof intersecting rows and columns of such regions. Each region 20includes a plurality of subregions 30 of programmable logic. Inparticular, in the depicted embodiment there are eight subregions 30 ineach region 20. Each subregion 30 receives a plurality of input signalson input leads 40 and is programmable to perform any of a plurality oflogic functions on those input signals. For example, each subregion 30may include a look-up table which is programmable to provide any logicalcombination of four inputs 40 applied to the subregion. Each subregion30 may produce an output signal 50 which can be fed back to the inputs40 of the associated region 20 via conductors 60. Programmable logicconnectors (“PLCs”) 62 preferably allow any or substantially anyconductor 60 associated with a region 20 to be connected to any orsubstantially any conductor 40 associated with that region.

A plurality of horizontal interconnection conductors 70 is associatedwith each row of regions 20. Some of conductors 70 (elsewhere identifiedas conductors 70 a) extend along the entire length of the associated rowand are therefore sometimes referred to as global horizontal (“GH”)conductors. Others of conductors 70 (elsewhere identified as conductors70 b) extend along only either the left or right half of the associatedrow and are therefore sometimes referred to as half horizontal (“HH”)conductors.

A plurality of vertical interconnection conductors 80 is associated witheach column of regions 20. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 conductors80 extend the entire length of the associated column and are thereforesometimes referred to as global vertical (“GV”) conductors.

A plurality of region-feeding conductors 90 is associated with each ofregions 20. The region-feeding conductors 90 associated with each region20 are programmably connectable by PLCs 72 to the horizontal conductors70 associated with the row that includes that region. Only a partialpopulation of PLCs 72 is preferably provided. For example, associatedwith each region 20 each conductor 70 may be connectable to any ofseveral, but substantially less than all, conductors 90.Correspondingly, each conductor 90 may receive a signal from any ofseveral, but substantially less than all, conductors 70. The conductors90 associated with each region 20 are programmably connectable by PLCs92 to the conductors 40 of that region. Like PLCs 62, the population ofeach group of PLCs 92 is preferably a full or substantially fullpopulation (i.e., any or substantially any conductor 90 is connectableto any or substantially any intersecting conductor 40). The conductors90 associated with each region 20 (in cooperation with the associatedPLCs 72 and 92 and conductors 40) therefore allow signals on theassociated conductors 70 to be applied to the inputs of that region.

In addition to being fed back locally via conductors 60, the outputsignals 50 of each region are applied to relatively short horizontalconductors 100. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 horizontal conductors100 extend across three adjacent columns of regions 20. Thus the columnsof regions 20 are grouped in groups of three adjacent columns, each suchgroup having associated conductors 100. On the assumption that there are24 columns of regions 20, conductors 100 are sometimes referred to aseighth horizontal (“EH”) conductors.

The signals on conductors 100 can be applied to the associatedconductors 70 via PLCs 110 and drivers 120. PLCs 110 can bealternatively controlled to apply signals on associated conductors 80 todrivers 120 and thus to conductors 70. The signals on conductors 100 canbe applied to the associated conductors 80 via PLCS 130 and drivers 140.PLCs 130 can be alternatively controlled to apply signals on associatedconductors 70 to drivers 140 and thus to conductors 80. Drivers 120 and140 are preferably programmably controlled tri-state drivers. Drivers120 and 140 are therefore also PLCs.

FIG. 2 shows a representative portion of FIG. 1 in somewhat more detailto better depict the nature and extent of resources 100, 110, 120, 130,and 140. To avoid over-crowding the drawing, FIG. 2 does not showconductors 40 and 60. As shown in the upper portion of FIG. 2, each ofthree horizontally adjacent subregions 30 applies its output signal 50to a respective one of three conductors 100 that span the three regions20 that include those subregions. Associated with each of thesesubregions is a PLC 102 that can select the signal on any one of theassociated conductors 100. The output signal of each PLC 102 is appliedto one input terminal of each of two associated PLCs 110 and oneassociated PLC 130. The other input to each pair of PLCs 110 is a signalfrom one of two vertical conductors 80 that are associated with thecolumn that includes that pair of PLCs 110. This one-of-two selection ismade by an associated PLC 82. The other input to each PLC 130 is asignal from a GH conductor 70 a or an HH conductor 70 b associated withthe row that includes that PLC 130. Each PLC 110 selects one of its twoinput signals for application to an associated driver 120 (preferably aprogrammable tri-state driver). The output signal of each driver 120 isapplied to one of the associated horizontal conductors 70. Similarly,each PLC 130 selects one of its two input signals for application to anassociated driver 140 (again preferably a programmable tri-state deviceand therefore itself a PLC). The output signal of each driver 140 isapplied to one of the associated column conductors 80.

The interconnection structure shown in the upper portion of FIG. 2 isrepeated for all other subregions 30 in the three horizontally adjacentregions 20 that are grouped with one another by conductors 100. Forexample, the lower portion of FIG. 2 shows this interconnectionstructure for the next three subregions 30 down from the above-describedsubregions. In the lower portion of FIG. 2 the connections from drivers120 to horizontal conductors 70 are not expressly shown, but they are infact completed. Similarly, the connections from horizontal conductors 70to PLCs 130 are not expressly shown, but these connections are also infact completed.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that each group of conductors100 and associated PLCs allows the subregions 30 that output to thoseconductors to share a relatively large number of drivers 120 and 140. Inthis way each subregion output 50 is given a large number of ways out tohorizontal conductors 70 and/or to vertical conductors 80. Inparticular, each subregion output 50 can get to any of six drivers 120and thus to any of six horizontal conductors 70 (assuming that eachdriver 120 associated with a group of three conductors 100 connects to adifferent one of the associated horizontal conductors 70). Similarly,each subregion output 50 can get to any of three drivers 140, andmoreover these three drivers 140 connect to vertical conductors 80associated with three different columns of regions 20. Theinterconnection structure thus shown and described greatly increasesoutput routing flexibility for the subregion outputs, and it does sowithout increasing the requirement for driver resources (such as drivers120 and 140). It is generally desirable to conserve driver resourcesbecause drivers tend to be relatively large and therefore space-,power-, and signal-propagation-time-consuming. In addition, the abilityto use conductors 100 to convey a subregion output signal 50 to avertical conductor 80 associated with another column may help toconserve use of horizontal conductor 70 resources for such purposes.

Because drivers 120 and 140 are effectively shared as described above,it may be possible to reduce the number of drivers relative to thenumber of subregion output signals 50. For example, instead of havingthree drivers 120 a (to GH conductors 70 a) and three drivers 120 b (toHH conductors 70 b) for each group of three subregions 30, it may bepossible to have only two drivers 120 a and two drivers 120 b for eachgroup of three subregions.

FIG. 3 shows a possible extension of the concept underlying FIGS. 1 and2. In the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 3 conductors 100 areadditionally programmably connectable (by PLCs 104) to selectedconductors 90 associated with the three regions 20 that are served bythose conductors 100. This allows any subregion output 50 in a group ofthree regions 20 to be applied to the region-feeding conductors 90 ofany region in that group without having to use a relatively longhorizontal conductor 70 to make such a relatively short horizontalconnection. This may help further conserve the longer horizontalconductor resources represented by conductors 70. In other respects theembodiment shown in FIG. 3 may be similar to the embodiment shown inFIGS. 1 and 2.

It is preferably not necessary for each conductor 100 to be connectableto all intersected conductors 90 via PLCs 104. Instead, only a partialpopulation of PLCs 104 may be provided. For example, each conductor 100may be connectable by PLCS 104 to two conductors 90 associated with eachregion 20 in the group with which that conductor 100 is associated.

FIG. 4 shows a possible further extension of the concepts illustrated byFIG. 3. In the illustrative embodiment shown in FIG. 4 dedicated localfeedback conductor 60 and their associated PLCs 62 are eliminated.Instead, conductors 100 and associated PLCs 104 (as in FIG. 3) are usedfor all local feedback (as well as for such additional purposes as havebeen described above in connection with FIGS. 1-3).

Although FIGS. 1-4 show regions 30 grouped by conductors 100 in groupsof three, it will be understood that any level of segmentation can beemployed. For example, regions 20 can be grouped in groups of four,five, or more by conductors 100 spanning such groups. Larger groupsgenerally necessitate larger numbers of conductors 100.

Another alternative is to have the groups of regions 20 overlap byhaving different conductors 100 overlap one another. An example of thisis shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment the output signal 50 of eachsubregion 30 is applied to a conductor 100 which extends to the region20 to the left and the region 20 to the right of the region thatincludes that subregion. For example, the output signal 50 g ofsubregion 30 g is applied to conductor 100 g which extends to the PLCs102 f and 102 h associated with regions 20 f and 20 h, as well as to PLC102 g associated with region 20 g.

If desired, the type of construction shown in FIG. 5 can be extended asshown in FIG. 3 to have the conductors 100 that serve a region alsoprogrammably connectable (as by PLCs 104 in FIG. 3) to theregion-feeding conductors 90 associated with that region.

Then if further desired, dedicated local feedback conductors 60 can alsobe eliminated. As in the embodiments (FIGS. 1-4) in which conductors 100extend to mutually exclusive groups of regions 20, any level ofsegmentation can be used in embodiments (like FIG. 5) in whichconductors 100 are arranged to produce overlapping groups of regions 20.In other words, each conductor 100 can extend to more than three regions20 (e.g., to four or five such regions) if desired. It will beappreciated that FIG. 5 is simplified (as compared, for example, to FIG.2) by omitting depiction of elements that are not essential for anexplanation of the feature illustrated by FIG. 5.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 6 (which may have additional details asshown in any of FIGS. 1-5 or in other FIGS. to be described below) showsthe possible addition of PLCs 84 between the vertical conductors 80associated with each column of regions 20 and the region-feedingconductors 90 associated with each region 20 in that column. Theprovision of such PLCs 84 reduces or eliminates the need to usehorizontal conductors 70 to make connections from the verticalconductors 80 in a column to the region-feeding conductors 90 in thatcolumn. This conserves horizontal conductor 70 resources for use inmaking longer-distance horizontal connections. Only a partial populationof PLCs 84 is preferably needed (i.e., it is preferably sufficient toprovide only enough PLCs 84 so that each vertical conductor 80 isconnectable to a subset of the region-feeding conductors 90 in eachgroup of conductors 90).

Several possible ways of providing PLCs 84 are shown in FIGS. 7a-7 d.All of these FIGS. assume a structure like that shown in FIGS. 13 and 14(described in more detail below) in which one set of conductors 60/90provides the functions of (1) local feedback like previously describedconductors 60, (2) region feeding like previously described conductors90, and (3) driving out to adjacent conductors 70 and 80. Programmablebi-directional connections between conductors 70 and 60/90 arerepresented in FIGS. 7a-7 d by PLCs 72′. Also in these FIGS. eachsubregion output 50 is shown with a gating PLC 52 such as a programmablycontrolled pass transistor or other PLC device.

In FIG. 7a PLCs 84 are provided between conductors 80 and segments ofconductors 50 extending from PLCs 52 to conductors 60/90. In FIG. 7bPLCs 84 are provided between conductors 80 and 60/90. In FIG. 7c PLCs 84are connected between conductors 80 and only selected ones of conductors50. In other words, some conductors 50 have more than one PLC 84, whileother conductors 50 have no PLCs 84. In FIG. 7d horizontal branches 80′of conductors 80 are included, and PLCs 84 are provided between thesebranches and conductors 60/90.

FIG. 8 shows another possible feature in accordance with this invention.Embodiments of the type shown in FIG. 8 may additionally have any of thefeatures shown in the above-described FIGS. In FIG. 8 each verticalconductor 80 is divided into upper and lower segments 80 a and 80 b,which are programmably interconnectable, when needed, by PLCs 86 (e.g.,pass transistors). If a connection is needed between two upper rowsonly, an upper segment 80 a can be used to make that connection, leavingthe associated lower segment 80 b free for use in making a connectionbetween two lower rows. On the other hand, if a connection is neededbetween upper and lower rows, then the upper and lower segments 80 a and80 b of a vertical conductor are connected by the associated PLC 86 inorder to provide that connection. This may make it possible to reducethe number of vertical conductor tracks that have to be provided inorder to provide a given amount of vertical interconnectivity. Inconnection with the feature illustrated by FIG. 8, see also McClintocket al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,840, which is incorporated by referenceherein.

In a device with a sufficiently small number of rows, it may beeconomical to provide each subregion output 50 with its own dedicatedvertical conductor 80 as shown, for example, in FIG. 9. As anillustration of this, if each region 20 includes eight subregions 30,and the device has only two rows, 16 vertical conductors 80 associatedwith each column are sufficient to provide each subregion output 50 withits own vertical conductor 80. Assuming the same number of subregions 30per region and three rows, 24 vertical conductors 80 per column aresufficient to give each subregion output 50 its own vertical conductor80. This eliminates the need for elements such as 130 and 140 in FIG. 1.Because the vertical conductors 80 are not shared by more than onepossible input, there is no need for tri-state drivers on the inputs.

Cliff et al. U.S. Pat. 5,689,195 shows programmable logic arrayintegrated circuit devices having several columns of programmable logicregions which may be similar to regions 20 herein. In addition, thejust-mentioned Cliff et al. devices include a column of regions ofrandom access memory (“RAM”) that are usable by the user of the device.The just-mentioned Cliff et al. devices do not include GH to GVconnections for the GV conductors associated with the column of RAMregions. Moreover, it has been found that the GV conductors associatedwith the RAM column are relatively lightly used. In accordance with thepresent invention, a programmable logic array integrated circuit devicethat has a column of RAM regions is provided with GH to GV connectionsfor the GV conductors of the RAM region column. This is illustrated byFIG. 10, which will now be discussed.

In FIG. 10 the center column is a column of RAM regions 20′, which istherefore different from the other columns of regions 20 of the typethat have been described in connection with the other FIGS. herein. Inaccordance with the present invention, GH-to-GV PLCs 130/140 areprovided for conductors 80 associated with the RAM column (regions 20′),just as similar GH-to-GV PLCs are provided for the other columns. Theseadditional GH-to-GV PLCs 130/140 in the RAM column provide additionalways for subregion outputs 50 of regions 20 to get to different rows.

Another possible feature of the present devices is shown in FIG. 11. Inaccordance with this feature, all I/O cells 160 are driven by particularsubregions 30 in the regions 20 around the periphery of the device. Whenconnecting to an I/O cell 160 configured as an output, the intendedoutput signal is routed to (or possibly produced in) the subregion 30associated with that I/O cell. All output register functions for thatI/O cell 160 are supported within its driving subregion 30. For example,an output register would be implemented in that subregion 30 withappropriate clocks, clears, and clock enables. A tri-state driver 150 isconnected in series between each I/O cell 160 and its associatedsubregion 30. An input register for an I/O cell 160 can be implementedanywhere on the chip. The I/Os may drive into the device in the same waythat they do, for example, in Cliff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,611 andCliff et al.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,195. For example, each I/O along a side edge of thedevice may drive onto two nearby GH and/or HH conductors 70. Each I/Oalong a top or bottom edge of the device may drive onto two nearby GVconductors 80. In connection with the feature illustrated by FIG. 11,see also Huang et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,080, which is incorporated byreference herein.

Still another possible feature of devices constructed in accordance withthis invention is shown in FIG. 12. This FIG. shows certain aspects of arepresentative portion of one representative row of an illustrativedevice. As shown in FIG. 12 each row of regions 20 is served by aplurality of GH conductors 70 a and a plurality of shorter horizontalconductors 70 c whose spans are staggered along the length of the row.For example, each conductor 70 c may nominally extend one quarter of thelength of the associated row. Conductors 70 c are therefore sometimesreferred to as quarter horizontal (“QH”) conductors. Thus, on theassumption that there are 24 regions 20 in the row, each conductor 70 cextends adjacent to six regions. Moreover, the starting (and ending)points for the various conductors 70 c are staggered. Thus there is onedepicted conductor 70 c which starts above region 20 b and extends tothe right five more regions to end above region 20 g. Similarly, thereis another depicted conductor 70 c which starts above region 20 c andextends to the right five more regions to end above region 20 h.

As in earlier-described embodiments, a plurality of block-feedingconductors 90 serves each block 20 by being programmably connectable tothe conductors 70 a and 70 c intersected by that group of conductors 90.For the most part the PLCs that provide theseconductor-70-to-conductor-90 connections are not shown in FIG. 12, butthey are like the PLCs 72 shown in the previously discussed FIGS.Certain of these PLCs are, however, shown in FIG. 12, and these PLCs arelabeled 76 to emphasize them and to identify them as preferablybi-directional connections between conductors 70 c and conductors 90.PLCs 76 will now be described in more detail.

Each of conductors 70 c has a PLC 76 adjacent each of its ends. Each ofPLCs 76 bi-directionally connects to the same conductor 90 that also hasa PLC 76 connection to another conductor 70 c. The conductors 90 withthese PLCs 76 can therefore be used to bi-directionally connectconductors 70 c to one another to make longer horizontal conductors fromtwo or more relatively short QH conductors 70 c. PLCs 76 can, of course,also be used to apply signals on conductors 70 c to conductors 90 forfeeding to the associated regions 20.

As an example of use of PLCs 76 to interconnect conductors 70 c, if itis necessary to transmit a signal from region 20 c to region 20 k, thePLCs in the column that includes region 20 h may be programmed tointerconnect (1) the conductor 70 c that extends to the right from theregion 20 c column and (2) the conductor 70 c that extends to the rightfrom the region 20 h column. The two thus-interconnected conductors 70 ccan then be used to transmit a signal from the region 20 c column to theregion 20 k column. Longer interconnections can be made throughconductors 70 c by connecting more than two such conductors together.

Yet another possible feature of the present devices is illustrated byFIGS. 13 and 14. In these FIGS. the functions of conductors 60 and 90from FIG. 1, for example, are combined in one set of dual-purposeconductors 60/90. Also the connections to, from, and between the GH (70)and GV conductors are organized somewhat differently, but the elementsthat provide these connections are again generally labeled110/120/130/140 as in FIG. 1, for example. Each subregion 30 includes alook-up table portion 32 and a register (flip-flop) portion 34. Asshown, for example, in FIG. 8 of Cliff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,195,each look-up table 32 may have four inputs and is programmable toproduce an output signal 50 a which is any logical combination of thoseinputs. The associated register 34 may register output signal 50 a andproduce a registered version as another output 50 b of the subregion.Alternatively, one of the look-up table inputs 40 may bypass the look-uptable via PLC 36 and be applied directly to the register 34 forregistration. In that event, the subregion may substantiallysimultaneously perform two unrelated functions: (1) producing acombinatorial output 50 a, and (2) producing a “lonely register” output50 b. In the just-mentioned Cliff et al. apparatus, one of these signalsis constrained to drive locally (i.e., on a local feedback conductor),while the other of these signals is constrained to drive a globalresource such as a GH or GV conductor. These constraints can limitplacement of subregions that are to perform the combinatorial and lonelyregister functions, thereby limiting use of this device capability.

To avoid the above-mentioned constraints, the structure shown in FIGS.13 and 14 has both the combinatorial 50 a and registered 50 b outputs ofeach subregion programmably connectable by PLCs 54 to respectiveconductors 60/90 that can be used either to feed subregions locally orthat can be used to convey signals out to the adjacent GH and/or GVconductors. In this way both the combinatorial and registered outputsignals of each subregion 30 can be used either locally, or globally, orboth locally and globally.

FIG. 15 shows use of the feature shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 in anembodiment in which separate or dedicated region-feeding conductors 90,local feedback conductors 60, and more global output conductors 50 y areprovided for subregions 30. For example, output conductors 50 y may beconnected to conductors like 100 in FIG. 1 or they may drive moredirectly to conductors 70 and/or 80 as in above-mentioned Cliff et al.U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,195. PLC 54 x can apply either the combinatorialoutput 50 a or the registered output 50 b of subregion 30 to the localfeedback conductor 60 of that subregion. Similarly, PLC 54 y can applyeither the combinatorial output 50 a or the registered output 50 b ofsubregion 30 to the more global output conductor 50 y of the subregion.

In connection with the feature illustrated in FIGS. 13-15, see alsoCliff et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,126, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein.

PLCs such as 62, 72, 92, 110, 120, 130, and 140 in FIG. 1 and otherprogrammable connections described throughout this specification can beimplemented in any of a wide variety of ways. For example, each PLC canbe a relatively simple programmable connector such as a plurality ofswitches for connecting any one of several inputs to an output.Alternatively, each PLC can be a somewhat more complex element which iscapable of performing logic (e.g., by logically combining several of itsinputs) as well as making a connection. In the latter case, for example,each PLC can be product term logic implementing functions such as AND,NAND, OR, or NOR. Examples of components suitable for implementing PLCsare EPROMs, EEPROMs, pass transistors, transmission gates, antifuses,laser fuses, metal optional links, etc. The components of PLCs can becontrolled by various function control elements (“FCEs”) as described inmore detail below (although with certain PLC implementations (e.g.,fuses and metal optional links) separate FCE devices are not required).

FCEs (such as the programmable elements that control the PLCs andprogrammable logic shown throughout the drawings) can also beimplemented in any of several different ways. For example, FCEs can beSRAMs, DRAMs, first-in first-out (“FIFO”) memories, EPROMs, EEPROMs,function control registers (e.g., as in Wahlstrom U.S. Pat. No.3,473,160), ferro-electric memories, fuses, antifuses, or the like.

It will be understood that the foregoing is only illustrative of theprinciples of the invention, and that various modifications can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spiritof the invention. For example, various technologies can be used toprovide the programmable logic and control as has been mentioned.Parameters such as the number of subregions in a region, the number ofregions, the numbers of rows and columns of regions, the numbers of thevarious types of interconnection conductors, the densities of thepopulations of programmable connections between various kinds ofconductors, etc., can all be varied as desired. Directional ororientational terms such as “horizontal”/“vertical”, “row”/“column”,“up”/“down”, “left”/“right”, etc., are selected for use hereinarbitrarily and purely for convenience. No fixed or absolute directionsor orientations are intended, and the members of these various pairs ofterms can be reversed if desired. Terms such as “region” and “subregion”are also arbitrary relative terms, and the term “region” may sometimesbe used herein and in the appended claims for what is elsewheresometimes referred to as a “subregion”.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A programmable logic device comprising: aplurality of regions of programmable logic disposed on the device in atwo-dimensional array of intersecting rows and columns of the regions,each of the regions including a plurality of subregions of programmablelogic; a plurality of interconnection conductors extending parallel toeach of the rows; driver circuitry associated with each of theinterconnection conductors and adapted to drive an applied signal ontothe associated interconnection conductor; and selection circuitryassociated with each driver circuitry and adapted to select an outputsignal of any one of at least three of the subregions that arerespectively located in three of the columns that are adjacent to oneanother as the signal applied to the associated driver circuitry.
 2. Theprogrammable logic device defined in claim 1 further comprising: aplurality of second interconnection conductors extending parallel toeach of the columns; second driver circuitry associated with each of thesecond interconnection conductors and adapted to drive a second appliedsignal onto the associated second interconnection conductor; and secondselection circuitry associated with each second driver circuitry andadapted to select an output signal of any one of the at least threesubregions as the second signal applied to the associated second drivercircuitry.
 3. The programmable logic device defined in claim 2 whereinthe selection circuitry associated with each driver circuitry is furtheradapted to alternatively select a signal from one of the secondinterconnection conductors as the signal applied to the associateddriver circuitry.
 4. The programmable logic device defined in claim 3wherein the second selection circuitry associated with each seconddriver circuitry is further adapted to alternatively select a signalfrom one of the interconnection conductors as the second signal appliedto the associated second driver circuitry.
 5. The programmable logicdevice defined in claim 1 further comprising a plurality ofregion-feeding conductors associated with each of the regions andadapted to supply signals from the interconnection conductors associatedwith the row that includes that region to that region; and programmableconnections between each selection circuitry and the region-feedingconductors associated with the regions that include the at least threesubregions from which that selection circuitry can select an outputsignal.
 6. The programmable logic device defined in claim 2 wherein atleast some of the second interconnection conductors are programmablysegmentable so that each segment can convey a signal only between anassociated subplurality of the rows.
 7. A programmable logic devicecomprising: a plurality of regions of programmable logic disposed on thedevice in a two-dimensional array of intersecting rows and columns ofthe regions, each of the regions including a plurality of subregions ofprogrammable logic, the regions in each row being associated with amultiplicity of subpluralities of the regions in that row, eachsubplurality including at least three regions; an output signalconductor associated with each of the subregions, each output conductorextending adjacent to each of the regions in the subplurality thatincludes the region including that subregion; selection circuitryassociated with each region and adapted to select as an output signalthe signal on any one of an associated plurality of the output signalconductors, which plurality includes one output signal conductorassociated with a subregion in each region in the subplurality thatincludes the region associated with that selection circuitry; aplurality of interconnection conductors associated with each of the rowsand adapted to convey signals between the regions in the associated row;and driver circuitry associated with each selection circuitry andadapted to apply the output signal of that selection circuitry to aninterconnection conductor associated with the row that includes theregion associated with that selection circuitry.
 8. The programmablelogic device defined in claim 7 further comprising; a plurality ofsecond interconnection conductors associated with each of the columnsand adapted to convey signals along the associated column; secondselection circuitry associated with each selection circuitry and adaptedto select as a second output signal the signal on any of the outputsignal conductors that the selection circuitry can select the outputsignal from; and second driver circuitry associated with each secondselection circuitry and adapted to apply the second output signal ofthat second selection circuitry to a second interconnection conductorassociated with the column that includes the region associated with theselection circuitry with which that second selection circuitry isassociated.
 9. The programmable logic device defined in claims 8 whereinthe selection circuitry associated with each region is further adaptedto alternatively select the output signal from a second interconnectionconductor associated with the column that includes that region.
 10. Theprogrammable logic device defined in claim 8 wherein the secondselection circuitry associated with the selection circuitry associatedwith each region is further adapted to alternatively select the outputsignal from an interconnection conductor associated with the row thatincludes that region.
 11. The programmable logic device defined in claim7 further comprising: region-feeding conductors associated with eachregion and adapted to supply input signals to the subregions in thatregion; first programmable connections between the region-feedingconductors associated with each region and the interconnectionconductors associated with the row that includes that region; and secondprogrammable connections between the output signal conductors from whichthe selection circuitry associated with each region can select theoutput signal and the region-feeding conductors associated with thatregion.
 12. The programmable logic device defined in claim 8 wherein atleast some of the second interconnection conductors are programmablesegmentable so that each segment can convey a signal only between anassociated subplurality of the rows.
 13. A programmable logic devicecomprising: a plurality of regions of programmable logic disposed on thedevice in a plurality of rows of the regions, each region in each rowbeing associated with a plurality of subpluralities of adjacent ones ofthe regions in that row, each of the subpluralities that each region isassociated with including a different number of the regions to at leastone side of that region; at least one interconnection conductorassociated with each of the subpluralities and adapted to convey signalsbetween the regions in that subplurality; region-feeding conductorsassociated with each of the regions and adapted to supply input signalsto the associated region; and programmable connections between theregion-feeding conductors associated with each region and theinterconnection conductors associated with the subpluralities thatinclude that region and adapted to allow at least some of thoseinterconnection conductors to be connected to one another via thoseregion-feeding conductors.
 14. The programmable logic device defined inclaim 13 wherein each of the subpluralities includes at least three ofthe regions.
 15. The programmable logic device defined in claim 13further comprising: a plurality of second interconnection conductorsassociated with each of the rows and adapted to convey signals betweenany of the regions in the associated row; and second programmableconnections between the region-feeding conductors associated with eachregion and the second interconnection conductors associated with the rowthat includes that region.
 16. The programmable logic device defined inclaim 15 wherein the regions are additionally disposed on the device ina plurality of columns that intersect the rows, and wherein the devicefurther comprises: a plurality of third interconnection conductorsassociated with each of the columns, each of the third interconnectionconductors being programmably segmentable into a plurality of segments,each of which is adapted to convey a signal between only an associatedsubplurality of the rows.